Fair Play Policy

Tank Commanders,

Over the course of the last year, we’ve been working on improving World of Tanks based on your feedback. We are aware that one of your biggest concerns is fair play and how it is often disrupted by modifications or other unauthorised third-party software that may provide their users with an unfair advantage in combat. These mods spoil the fun for the majority of you who play the game fairly.

While we have quietly taken action to defeat certain cheat mods over the past several months, we also realise that we haven’t specified the list of modifications that we deem to be unfair, and the reasoning behind that decision. We also haven't been as consistent as we should in addressing instances of cheating.

So, today, we'll set things straight:

We’ll continue to work on anti-cheating technological solutions. We are being realistic about the problem: we can’t promise that the game will be 100% cheat-free one day. Cheaters are clever and as long as they are determined to cheat, we will have to keep tackling them as they present new issues that demand new solutions. What we can promise you, however, is that we will keep up the fight to keep competition as clean as possible, reduce incidences of cheating, and take action against those who don't play fair.

We’ve outlined a clear list of prohibited mods that we will share with you here and now. Moving forward, we’ll keep an eye on new mods and update the list accordingly.

We’re also establishing a clear penalty system for cheating. It will be uniform across all regions and applies to everyone found to be using prohibited software.

Players who are caught using forbidden mods instead of earning their way in fair combat will receive a warning and a suspension of 7 days, if it is their first offence.

Should they get flagged for cheating again, they will be permanently banned. Before punishing a player, our team will review the case to ensure that disciplinary action is warranted. We’re asking you to trust in them to make fair decisions.

Please note that they are under no obligation to provide the player with evidence or explain which mod type the player was found to be using, and will not do so even if requested.

Which Modifications Will Be Penalised?

We know that there are lots of mods out there, and we have already implemented a number of useful community mods in the game proper. However, some mods and software work against the community’s best interests. To be clear on what makes our naughty and nice list when we review third-party software, we will divide them into three different categories as follows:

Mods that do not provide a gameplay advantage, but merely allow customised display of information for the viewer. They are "pure" mods in the traditional sense, and we like them.

Mods that do provide a gameplay advantage, but one that we believe contributes to the game in a positive way. In the short term, we’ll treat these as good mods, and we will look to officially implement them in the vanilla client in the future.

Mods that do provide a gameplay advantage that we think is bad overall for the game. These are classified as cheats and are prohibited.

Listed below are some modifications that fall into the third category. Players that are found using them will receive a penalty.

Mods that reveal the positions of enemies in a way not included in the vanilla client, by: marking objects destroyed on the map and minimap in real-time, altering the display of shell flight trails or calculating the position of enemy SPGs with tracers and marking them, and keeping spotted vehicles displayed on screen, even when you aren’t aiming at them

Software that makes it easier to block an enemy’s shell by indicating the exact spot at which they are aiming (for example, with a laser beam).

Modifications that alert you when spotted vehicles are reloading or that show enemy vehicles’ reload timers

Auto-aim mods or so-called “aimbots” that provide more functionality than the "aim lock" in the vanilla client, specifically including those that aim at the enemy's weak spots and/or lead the target automatically so that a cheater can focus entirely on manoeuvring their tank

Software that enables the automatic use of non-Premium consumables

Mods that aid in finding enemies by letting you adjust the transparency of objects on the map

Software that leaves “ghosts” of enemy vehicles on the battlefield, indicating where they were last detected

Mods that actually alter the physical properties, performance characteristics, or effects of any vehicle or object in the game, or subvert the game rules

One final category: in-battle armour viewer

We believe that this functionality provides a very significant advantage. Since we didn’t treat it as a cheat in the past, we are not adding it to the Forbidden Mods List for the moment. Instead, we are working on our own version of an in-battle armour viewer that will feature functionality that is beneficial to the game. Once introduced, mods that offer more information about critical armour areas will be added to the List.

Please also note that this applies to in-battle viewers only. The mods that some of you have, which only work in the Garage (not during the match itself), are great. To us, that's not cheating. In fact, we think in-Garage viewers are a really helpful tool that help newer players to increase their knowledge so that they can learn to fight better with or against different tanks. It’s only the ones that provide extra information in-match that we don’t think are fair and will be affected by our Fair Play policy.

We’ve set out to build a healthier game environment, and will continue to monitor the game and evolve this system to ensure a fair experience for all players in the future. We rely on your support in this journey and are eager to hear your feedback.